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278: Self-Doubt and Success: What J.M. Coetzee Teaches Us About Becoming
“A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us”Summertime, J.M. Coetzee Dear Friends Success always seems so neat, coherent and, in its perfection, unobtainable. We…

277: Life Happens. Make Plans.
Life is what happens to youWhile you’re busy making other plansJohn Lennon, Beautiful Boy Dear Friends You are young and life is longAnd there is time to kill todayAnd then…

276: How Rituals Build Capacity in Leadership and Life
Dear Friends In this Tim Ferriss interview about his new book – The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness – Harvard professor Arthur Brooks offers…

275: Magic Bullets. Founder’s Mindset. Fela Kuti.
Dear friends, Today is the year’s last letter. We will gather here again on 18 January 2026. It is ‘best books of 2025’ season. My favourite lists are the Financial…

274: John Kay. Billie Jean King. John Milton.
Good morning, dear friends Summer has eventually arrived on Africa’s southern tip (although can Cape Town’s wind take a breath? Pretty please). One of my favourite distilleries, Pienaar and Son,…

273: Lego Friends. Sarah Jessica Parker. Richard Powers.
Good morning dear friends In today’s letter: If you enjoy this week’s letter, please share it with colleagues and friends. They can subscribe [here]. /strategyIn his truly excellent A New…

272: Zohran Mamdani. Tanitoluwa Adewumi. JM Coetzee.
Good morning dear friends If you liked last week’s quotation from Joanne Joseph’s Children of Sugarcane you might enjoy this one from Wole Soyinka. Today’s letter draws lessons from Zohran Mamdani’s victory,…

271: Will Guidara. James Clear. Octavia Butler
Good morning dear friends This community loves learning, loves reading, loves books. You understand that different perspectives create richer possibilities. You’ll love this list – acclaimed Zimbabwean novelist, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s favourite…

270: Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality (Part Two)
Good morning friend This week’s letter continues our exploration of Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect. If this is your first time…

269: Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality (Part One)
Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect is the inspiration for this week’s letter. Roger Martin, co-author of Playing to Win, one of…

268: The Inner Life of Rebellion (Krista Tippet, Parker Palmer and Courtney Martin)
Last week’s letter about Jeff Wicks’ The Shadow State: Why Babita Deokaran Had to Die is, thus far, 2025’s most read letter. It displaced Stephen King and Strategy, and Culture…

267: Babita Deokaran. Jeff Wicks. Friendship and Courage.
Good morning friends Thank you for your feedback on my evolving LinkedIn strategy. I appreciate your time and support. Please feel free to give me input at any stage; it…
